Shalshelet

Accent Searches in Accordance Bible Software

Late last year I bought a license for an Accordance bundle/base package for the Mac Emulator. My, purpose in getting Accordance was to acquire another database and software platform to run searches on Hebrew Accent patterns in the Tanakh/Hebrew Bible.  It isn’t easy to find programs with such capabilities.

Since, I am a bit busy and maybe lazy at the moment I will re-post a short description of an Accent search I posted on the Accordance  Forums last year:

Originally Posted on the November 6th, 2012 – 11:10  pm. I’ve always envied Accordance users and the multitude of Semitic texts available to them! Now, that I too am an Accordance user I thought I might as well make an attempt at running a few queries. I welcome an suggestions and corrections as I start learning to make efficient use of Accordance.It’s commonly known that the Shalshelet (accent/cantillation mark) occurs only four times in the Pentateuch/Torah. This is something also confirmed by popular literature on the subject:

1. Cantors Marshall Portnoy and Josee Wolf, The Art of Torah Cantillation pg. 61
2. James D. Price,Concordance of the Hebrew accents in the Hebrew Bible: Volume 1 pg 6.
3. Joshua R. Jacobson, Chanting the Hebrew Bible pg. 107-108 (Out, of his list of seven occurrences of the Shalshelet four are from the Pentateuch)

Since, I already know how many times the Shalshelet should appear in the Pentateuch I thought this would be a great search to start with. So, here is my attempt:

• Opened, Accordance
• Selected the BHS-W4
• Limited the Search range to the “Law” or the Pentateuch using the button bar above the text window.
• Click on “Window” heading on the menu bar at the top of the screen. A drop down window opened.
• Then selected “Character Palette” from the drop down window(Or the 5th choice from the top).
• In the character palette window I then selected the Yehudit (font)
• made sure that there was a check mark next to the “cantillation” option.
• Then, on the command line I entered: A wildcard period(.) followed by Shalshelet (I used the character palette to select it)
• Finally, I Hit enter

Sure, enough Accordance brought back all four verses in the Torah/Pentateuch which contain the Shalshelet. That was great! Now, I know what people mean when they say Accordance is intuitive! I was able to run this query basically without typing any codes in, and with only an elementary knowledge of Accordance.